With 7.6% GDP growth, Marcos Jr. says PH economy moving in right direction

Philippines’ President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (Photo by John THYS / AFP)

MANILA, Philippines — As the Philippines recorded a 7.6-percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate in 2022, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Friday said the country’s economy is “moving in the correct direction.”

With this, he stressed the need to “go out” and attract investments into the country to sustain the Philippines’ economic growth.

“We must maintain that growth rate, that is why it has become so important for us to go out and attract investments into the Philippines because that is the only way for the economic activity to increase and therefore to grow the economy,” Marcos said in a video message.

“I think we are headed in the right direction, we still have some interventions that we have to apply but nonetheless we are weathering the shocks from the international economic situation and we are starting to see that the economy is moving in the correct direction,” he added.

He, however, admitted that the country is still facing high inflation rates but he assured the public that his administration is attending to it.

“For 2023, we still have the problem of inflation, which means there is still a problem of certain sectors of society and of the economy [who] have yet to enjoy the benefits of that growth and that is why inflation is something we are attending to,” the President said.

He added that his administration is anticipating inflation rate in the country, especially for agricultural products, to decrease within the second quarter of the year.

He also expressed optimism that the country’s inflation rate will drop to 4 percent by the third and fourth quarter, as forecasted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) earlier reported that the Philippines posted a 7.6-percent full-year growth in 2022, the highest in 46 years or  since the country recorded an 8.8 percent growth in 1976.

READ: Philippines posted above-target GDP growth of 7.6% in 2022